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UAFS To Host Battle Of The Bands

UAFS To Host Battle Of The Bands

PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGAN PLACE The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s annual Battle of the Bands competition at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Reynolds Room of the university’s Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center. The free, all-ages event will feature nine bands competing for prizes.

Microphones, guitar picks and drum sticks will be set in motion during the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s upcoming Battle of the Bands competition.

Set to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside the Reynolds Room of UAFS’s Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center, 5210 Grand Ave., the free, all-ages event will be highlighted by some of the most unique sounds to be heard, said Stephanie London, student activities coordinator for UAFS.

“This is about the ninth year we have hosted this event, and it’s such an exciting event for the whole family,” she said. “The music will be different genres.”

The concert-style event will feature nine area bands competing for prizes, which include a first-place award of $200, a second-place award of $100 and a $75 Audience Favorite Award, London said. The bands set to take the stage include Cape Fear, Denim and Pearl, Runaway Science, Harvester, Hollow Valley Funk, Angel Flesh, Siloam Springs, Holy Smokes! and Surreality.

“What’s also fun about the Battle of the Bands is, we are co-sponsoring this with ARORA, which is the Arkansas Region Organ Recovery Agency,” London said. “We usually charge $2 for non-students for the Battle of the Bands, but this year, ARORA is helping cover the cost of the event, and they’re making a donation to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.”

The VH1 Save the Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring music programs in U.S. schools. The foundation also stressed the importance of music in each child’s education.

“People certainly are welcome to make additional donations to VH1 Save the Music, if they feel they want to do that,” London said.

Representatives from ARORA, which makes efforts to provide organisms and tissues for life-saving and life-enhancing transplantation, also will hand out 400 T-shirts and provide food for those attending, she said.

“Another thing that is fun is the fact that the bands playing will be made of musicians of different ages,” London said. “The band Denim and Pearl is made of younger kids, so this really is an event to be enjoyed by all ages.”